Heart: Try to understand, it's a magic band

Ann
and Nancy Wilson headline July 24 "Tuesday in the Park" concert at Artpark

Preview
by Joshua Maloni

Does
being a rock 'n' roll star and performing in front of thousands
and thousands of singing, fist-pumping, hand-clapping fans ever get
old?

What
do you think?

"No,
that would not be old," Heart lead singer Ann Wilson says.

The
vocalist behind a heap of hit songs says, "That's why we do this,
is because we have something to say. We really do want to get with
people and do our thing and connect with them."

Alongside
her sister, ace guitarist Nancy Wilson, Ann has said plenty in songs
such as "Magic Man" (about the dangers of young love),
"Barracuda" (about working in the despicable music industry),
"What About Love?" (about finding romance in the mayhem of life),
"Never" (about not giving up), "These Dreams" (about fantasy
colliding with reality), and "Alone" (about struggling to find
and keep "the one").

More
than 35 years after forming Heart in Seattle, Ann and Nancy still sell out
venues around the world. Heart performs Tuesday at Artpark, and is
expected to draw the biggest audience of the season.

"Heart
was one of the big shows we were able to book this year," says
Artpark & Company President George Osborne. He has recently
watched some of the band's live performances on YouTube. "They
seem to be still at the top of their game, so I think it will be a
great show."

"Our
new album, 'Fanatic,' I think, is probably our most ... we ...
try to light fires," Ann says. "That's what we do. We're fire
lighters. And I think we brought a spark on this one. That's good.
That's what I was looking for is a true spark."

Like
Foreigner and Huey Lewis & The News, two of Artpark's other
"Tuesday in the Park" headliners this summer, Heart has continued
to release new music despite having more than enough hit songs to
stage nightly "Best of" concerts.

"It's
important for us to put out new music, because we don't want to
rest on our laurels," Ann says. "I don't see that there's
anything that exciting about laurel resting. Maybe I'll get to the
point in my life where I just go, 'Oh my gosh, show me those
laurels - I just want to rest on them!' But I'm not there yet."

In
all seriousness, the singer explains it this way: "If we're going
to go out and ask people to come out of their homes and spend their
non-existent money to come see us, I'd say we better be awake and
alive, and we better have something ... new to show them.

"I
just feel, conscientiously, that we should be (an) awake, alive,
evolving band, or we should get out of the game."

Part
of Heart's charm, and something concertgoers can expect at Artpark,
is a show devoid of distractions. In other words, Ann and Nancy don't
have a lot of bells and whistles. They have the chops; they don't
need fancy animatronics to hide a lack of talent.

"You're
going to see a lot of rock 'n' roll," Wilson says.

"And
you're going to see some hair flipping, I think, probably," she
adds, laughing. "We'll be flipping some hair, boy."

"It's
a rock show," Ann says. "It's people out there making it
happen. We don't rely a whole lot on staging."

For
those insatiable Heart fans, the band is releasing "Kicking &
Dreaming" in September. The band's label, Legacy Recordings,
calls the book an "insider's memoir penned by Ann and Nancy
Wilson with noted Seattle-based author Charles R. Cross ('Room Full
of Mirrors - A Biography of Jimi Hendrix' and 'Heavier Than
Heaven - A biography of Kurt Cobain')."

"There
have been people coming up to us wanting to do Heart books since, I
don't know, since the early '80s," Wilson says. "But I think
what made us really decide to do one now is the author, Charles Cross
- who we both have been fans of for a long, long time; from Seattle
- became available to do it, and got excited about doing it with
us.

"He
is a guy from Seattle - a journalist in Seattle during the
so-called grunge time. He is so knowledgeable, and has such a
complete understanding of the Seattle music scene, that we thought if
anybody can really do it, it would be Charles.

"So,
we entrusted him with the thing. We have been working with him for
over a year-and-a-half on it now."

Ann
promises the book will be the definitive behind-the-scenes story of
Heart.

"When
you write a book like this with somebody, you bury your soul," she
says. "It's like being in therapy with them. You tell them
everything. It's a big deal.

"It
took us a while to get here, to the point where we could be so open
and honest and proud about it."

For
their efforts, Heart has garnered a reputation as one of the most
respected - and coolest - rock bands of all time. The band has
sold 35 million albums, and musicians including Black Eyed Peas
singer Fergie call Heart musical royalty.

That
Ann has achieved these things alongside her sister, Nancy, makes the
accolades that much sweeter.

"We
were just natural creative partners," Ann says. "It's really,
really fulfilling. It's hard to find anything else creatively that
is as fulfilling as that for me."

"It's
extremely creatively fulfilling," she says.

Heart
performs July 24 as part of the "Tuesday in the Park" concert
series at Artpark. The show begins at 6:30 p.m. with opening act the
Bruce Wojick Band. General admission tickets are $10 Friday and Saturday or $15
Sunday through Tuesday. For more information, call 716-754-4375 or visit www.artpark.net.